ban
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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bans,
present (3rd person singular)
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banned,
past participle, past
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banning
present participle
noun
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the act of prohibiting by law; interdiction.
- Synonyms:
- taboo, interdict, proscription, prohibition
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informal denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion.
society's ban on racial discrimination.
- Synonyms:
- taboo
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Law.
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a proclamation.
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a public condemnation.
-
-
Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication.
-
a malediction; curse.
noun
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a public proclamation or edict.
-
Ecclesiastical. bans, banns.
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(in the feudal system)
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the summoning of the sovereign's vassals for military service.
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the body of vassals summoned.
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noun
-
(formerly) the governor of Croatia and Slavonia.
-
History/Historical. a provincial governor of the southern marches of Hungary.
noun
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bani
plural
verb
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(tr) to prohibit, esp officially, from action, display, entrance, sale, etc; forbid
to ban a book
to ban smoking
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(tr) (formerly in South Africa) to place (a person suspected of illegal political activity) under a government order restricting his movement and his contact with other people
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archaic to curse
noun
-
an official prohibition or interdiction
-
law an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
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a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
-
archaic public censure or condemnation
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archaic a curse; imprecation
noun
noun
Usage
What does ban mean? To ban is to forbid or prohibit something or someone, as in Fatima banned her children from using screens after 9 pm so they wouldn’ stay up all night playing video games. A ban is a law or rule that prohibits, or bans, something, as in The winter parking ban starts on December 1. A ban can also be an informal prohibition, such as by public opinion. Example: We had to ban the use of power tools for school projects after an unfortunate incident in shop class.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bansimple
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banssimple
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have bannedperfect
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has bannedperfect
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am banningprogressive
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are banningprogressive
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is banningprogressive
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have been banningperfect progressive
-
has been banningperfect progressive
Past
-
bannedsimple
-
had bannedperfect
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was banningprogressive
-
were banningprogressive
-
had been banningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ban1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bannen, Old English bannan “to summon, proclaim”; cognate with Old Norse banna to curse (probably influencing some senses of Middle English word), Old High German bannan; akin to Latin fārī “to speak,” Sanskrit bhanati “(he) speaks”
Origin of ban2
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, ban, ban(n)e, iban “a lord's proclamation or edict or summons,” Old English (ge)ban(n) “proclamation, ordinance, summons to arms” (derivative of bannan ); influenced in some senses by Old French ban (Anglicized as ban ), from the same Germanic source; see ban 1
Origin of ban3
First recorded in 1605–15; from Serbo-Croatian bân, contracted from unattested bojan, bajan, said to be from a Turkic personal name, perhaps introduced into the Balkans by the Avars; compare Medieval Greek bo(e)ános “governor”
Origin of ban4
First recorded in 1960–65; from Romanian, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Serbo-Croatian bân “provincial governor”; see origin at ban 3
Explanation
The verb to ban means to forbid something from being or happening. The word can also be used as a noun. A school board might put a ban on all books that refer to Jefferson's mistress if they don't want anyone reading about her. If your parents are upset by how much time you spend online, they might ban computers in the house. But if you're smart, you can just use your phone or laptop at school. To ban something is to put a ban on it. Something with a ban on it is said to be banned. A ban can vary from your grandmother's ban on people wearing shoes in her house to a government's ban on printing certain stories in the newspaper.
Vocabulary lists containing ban
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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"The Civil Rights Movement"
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Vee, 17, from Cardiff, said she was happy about the proposed ban, while Sunny, 16, urged people to "just have a coffee" instead of an energy drink.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
We are glad that you understood the criteria for the scope of the vessels ban so far.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
But there's no need to ban evening snacks completely, says Beaulieu.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
In Ottawa, a small town near Kansas City, residents also overwhelmingly approved a ban on large data centers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
But he assured them that no test ban would be accepted without a comprehensive agreement on disarmament.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
By then—that would have been 1995—the Shorawi were defeated and long gone and Kabul belonged to Massoud, Rab- bani, and the Mujahedin.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
He was of the Dārim, one of the most respected divisions of the bani Tamīm, and his mother was of the tribe of Ḍabba.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
The king sent the bani of Bosnia and Croatia to help them, but the Venetian senate bought the rescuers off!
From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton) Jackson
Particularly is this the case with the inscriptions of Sennacherib and Ashur bani apal.
From Assyrian Historiography by A. T. (Albert Ten Eyck) Olmstead
Our present copy is a tablet from the library of a later king, seemingly Ashur bani apal.
From Assyrian Historiography by A. T. (Albert Ten Eyck) Olmstead
It has resulted in bans for some of us from the White House.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
The website arXiv, where scientists share their early-stage results, bans researchers for a year if they submit invented references.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Wilson says students also benefit from wider changes in the act, which bans landlords in England from evicting tenants without a reason.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
French authorities on Thursday imposed bans or restrictions on fresh protests springing up in the wake of demonstrations last weekend that degenerated into the worst street violence in years.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
My bans were due to expire two days after the adjournment.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
He has now been banned from all cricket under the jurisdiction of the England and Wales Cricket Board until 29 September 2028.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
It has been banned in nearly every Western democracy including almost all of Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
On Wednesday, the Paris prefecture banned a major protest route, instead replacing it with an authorised route moving eastward away from the centre.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
High-profile players joined and were banned from other tours, as well as events such as the Ryder Cup.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
The Volstead Act, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transfer of alcoholic beverages, was now the law of the land.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Names can also be shared with gaming companies, so they have the option of banning offenders from their platforms.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Tech executives from Nvidia to Microsoft are walking a linguistic tightrope ever since the president said he is banning the term “artificial” and demanding everyone call the technology “super” intelligence instead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
Latinas were also more likely to support banning ICE from sensitive locations like schools and hospitals and to support requiring warrants for enforcement at home or in a workplace.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
On Monday, the US went further by banning civilian government agencies from using products developed by DeepSeek and third-party tools created using DeepSeek.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
They agreed to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the first nuclear arms control agreement, banning nuclear tests everywhere but underground.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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